This Is The Most Valuable College Degree

Here's the stories we're reading about the world of commerce, retail and work this week:

🎓 The Most Valuable College Degree
🚀 50 Most Exciting Startups
🏍 Harley Rides Into Silicon Valley
💰 More Americans Optimistic About Pay Raises
👋 Study Reveals Brands Lack Human Connection
😍 Top Startup Jobs In The Land
🙌🏻 How Important is Culture in Workplace?

Let's dive right in.

🎓The Most Valuable College Degree
What's the most valuable college degree in the nation right now? Turns out, it's a science -- actuarial science, that is. According to research from Bankrate, students studying this field can earn upwards of $108,658 per year, average unemployment rates of 2.3 percent, and a propensity to go on to earn higher degree studies.

🎓Rankings That Reflect College 'Outcomes'
Colleges now are listing different rankings that the traditional approaches. Some, including Ivy institutions, are including what's called 'outcomes' that rate how many students they graduate from low-income homes. According to U.S. News, the top universities are:

Princeton

Harvard

Columbia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, and Yale (All of which are tied for third place in this new category).

💰 More Americans Optimistic About Pay Raises
Here's a bit of positive news about how we're feeling about pay day.

👍🏼Turns out: Positively.

A new survey discovered that growing legions of Americans are becoming optimistic about income growth, despite flat wages. Perhaps, it's because of the record low unemployment rates (hovering at 5 percent since 2014-15).

The Big Idea 🤔

👋 Study Reveals Brands Lack Human Connection
Forrester’s 2018 Customer Experience Index results continue to show that companies are struggling to create and sustain a human connection with their customers. This is not a question of delighting customers as an endgame or some fluffy sense of emotional attachment; this is a crass and clear story of financial risk.

🏍Harley Revs Into Silicon Valley
One well-known American motorcycle company is getting revved up for an interesting change.

Looking to keep pace with the growing number of automobile companies and car manufacturers who are going electric, Harley Davidson, the iconic Milwaukee-based motorcycle company, is opening up an R&D office in Silicon Valley to develop new technologies that advance the legacy brand into the next generation.

“Recently we shared with the world our accelerated plans to build the next generation of Harley-Davidson riders globally,” said Matt Levatich, President and CEO of Harley-Davidson, Inc. “This new R&D facility in the heart of Silicon Valley will help us deliver on those plans and demonstrate our commitment to lead the electrification of the sport.”

📉 Ten Years Since Financial Crisis
This week marks 10 years since the financial collapse and the fall of Lehman Brothers. The 'Great Financial Crisis' that followed and the worst recession since the Great Depression are in the distant past, but the lessons, painful memories, and lingering effects continue to reverberate throughout the U.S. economy.

🙌🏻 How Important is Culture in Workplace?
Culture. Today, the term is everywhere. This whole cultural-workplace discussion is about something that's not tangible. It's often credited for some of the greatest business successes, while also blamed for some of its biggest failures. We recently chatted with an CX expert about how it can impact your workplace and shape it's bottom-line.

In the webinar (the complete transcript which is published below) outlined three key points: